A championship is the ultimate prize in sports. Every fan of every team wants what is best for the team in order to put their team in the best position to compete for a championship. Sometimes, though, winning sometimes isn’t always the answer to success; and in the Lakers current situation that can’t be overstated.

The Lakers and their fans are hoping to see another title parade soon after a few hard seasons.

For the Lakers organization and its fans, the 2013-14 season is one of the darkest and hardest to watch in the past 30-plus years. In the end, though, it might not be so bad.

After losing out on the Dwight Howard sweepstakes in the off-season and while waiting on Kobe Bryant to return from injury, the Lakers knew the season would be a long one. Countless injuries and poor play have made exacerbated the situation. Currently, at the All Star Break, the Lakers sit with a record of 18-35 and are tied for the worst record in the Western Conference with the Sacramento Kings. So, the question is where do the Lakers go from here?

As the Lakers continue to lose, it all adds up to one step closer to a great lottery pick in the upcoming draft. The 2014 draft class looks to be one of the deepest and strongest draft classes since the 2003, when players such as LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh entered the league. It looks like the Lakers may even have a good chance to get a top-5 pick in the draft, which would greatly improve the team. Combine the good draft pick with all the cap space the Lakers will have this off-season and the Lakers should be back in contention for a title within a year or two.

What makes people skeptical about the future state of the Lakers is the fact that Jerry Buss and Jerry West are no longer with the team and that it is being run by Jim Buss, a man criticized for his poor decisions pertaining to the team. He is accompanied by general manager Mitch Kupchak, who is a fan favorite for his-out of-nowhere great moves. I understand why Laker fans like myself are worried about the future but we have to just trust in management and hope for the best. I mean after all it’s the Lakers right? Whoever is managing the team, I have to believe they will figure it out and bring this historic franchise back to the place it was always meant to be.

For a kid growing up in the 80’s, the Lakers dominance was a right of passage. In 1987, I was six years old and I have real memories of the moment when Magic sunk his sky-hook against the Celtics. The Lakers made eight out of ten NBA Finals in the 80’s and won five. Hearing Chick Hearn calling Magic’s sky-hook still gives me the chills.

In 1989, at the age of 8, I watched the Lakers’ last title for a while. After making the Finals in 1991, the franchise lost their superstar and fell on some hard times. Names like Magic, Kareem, and Big Game James were replaced by guys named VanExel, Sedale, Vlade, and Pig. In 1993-94, they finished 16 games below .500 and didn’t make the playoffs. Even for a 12-year old Lakers fanatic, Vlade’s soft Euro-game, Elden Campbell’s small hands, and James Edwards’ fade-away post moves didn’t cut it. VanExel was too young, Sedale too old, and even then George Lynch annoyed me.

While the Lakers continued to improve both in talent and in their record, the remainder of the pre-Shaq era was largely filled with end-of-season frustration and the realization that the Western Conference was completely inferior and that the Lakers were even inferior within the Western Conference.

In one offseason, Shaq’s decision to sign with the Lakers changed everything. No longer did Lakers fans have to deal with the frustration of a 7-foot center who was reluctant to dunk. Shaq’s game was everything that the Lakers seemed to need and more. More importantly, Shaq gave the Lakers a headliner they had been missing in the years since Magic retired. In a star-studded city like Los Angeles, don’t underestimate the impact of a headliner.

Despite losses to the Jazz in the playoffs and frustrating finishes to season, watching Shaq was ALWAYS a treat. As a fan, you always felt like you might see a feat of athletic dominance that you’d never seen before. The Diesel was “bigger, stronger, and faster” personified.

It took patience to wait for Phil Jackson to move to Los Angeles and for Kobe Bryant to mature enough to provide the second punch in the Lakers’ attack. But while we waited for the team to mature, Shaq provided mammoth dunk after mammoth dunk.

During the 1999-2000 season, Shaq took both his game and his showmanship to another level. In the new Staples Center — the entertainment crown jewel of Los Angeles — fans were serenaded with the theme from Superman whenever their own “Superman” established his dominance over an opponent.

The Lakers won the title in 2000 and the next two after that. His amazing ability on the court was sealed.

But I will remember other things most about Shaq and his time in Los Angeles.

I will remember not answering the questions asked by someone like Craig Saeger or John Ireland, but rather answer whatever question he felt like answering.

Sideline guy: “Shaq, you scored 37 points and pulled down 22 rebounds. Was the game plan to get the ball into you early?”

Shaq: “My teammates were really great tonight, I love this city and we are all excited to get this win on the road.”

Genius.

I’ll remember Shaq’s glossing himself “The Big Aristotle” after some deep conversations with and study under the Zen Master.

I’ll remember his story about how Phil Jackson made him swim out into a lake to help him with a chore when he went to visit Jackson in Montana after Jackson committed to the Lakers. Whether it happened or not, it was a great story and vintage Shaq showmanship.

I’ll always remember conversations with my college roommate, Kurt, about how his teammates were the stupidest people alive if they didn’t throw the ball into Shaq in the post on every possession. He was that dominant.

Most of all, I’ll probably remember some of Shaq’s quotes about being allowed to be abused in the post.

Many of them are chronicled here at http://shaqquotes.com .

Some of my favorites are:

“Keep in mind, I’m not allowed to be tough. I’m tamed.” Shaq had to take abuse all game, every game, and not strike back. His self-awareness of the fact that he was “tamed” is an interesting observation. For those who question how hard he tried or how much he cared, you should also question what kind of madness may have happened to other people on the court had he cared a little more or acted out on what were surely his desires to get all the Matt Geigers of the world back for inflicting constant physical harm upon him.

“You guys make the rules up, so a foul is a foul.  It doesn’t matter if a guy is bigger and stronger. It’s not my fault I ate my Frosted Flakes when I was little, and you ate Wheaties.”

Shaq gave Barkley-level quotes while being likeable during his playing days. He had what was arguably the most dominant 5 year stretch a player could have. He went away from Los Angeles and while he was bitter, he had built up so much good will, that it was still hard to dislike him as an overweight and bitter also-ran who was run out of town. As a Lakers fan, I was truly happy for him when he won another title.

Despite an injury-plagued end to his career, Shaq even made the Celtics more likable this year. His impact on the game will be measured against Bird, Magic, Jordan, Chamberlain, Robertson, West, Erving, and Jabbar. At a time when everyone complained about a Jordan-less league Shaq was the main attraction, carrying the weight of David Stern’s post-Jordan bitterness on his broad shoulders with ease. His presence will be missed on the court.

His retirement, however, opens up an opportunity for the greatest pre/post game show in NBA history. I can’t watch those games, but I would probably tune in to see Shaq, Charles, Kenny, and EJ on a pre-game, halftime, or post-game show. Can you dig it?

What if I could, as a fan, interview anyone in the sports world, ask them any question, and get a real, truthful, insightful answer. I wouldn’t have to publish it. I’d just want to know. As a fan. If you think you have their answers, please tell me.

My interview questions for Phil Jackson:

Who was more fun to coach – Shaq or MJ?

Kobe or Michael – and why?

Seriously, what happened to the Lakers this year?

My questions for Lakers’ GM Mitch Kupchak:

What really happened with the Ariza deal? Was there a problem with him that was never publicized? Did Kobe push hard for Ron? Would you do it differently if you could?

Would you rather have a slightly mentally unstable Artest or the Artest we saw all year?

For Frank McCourt:

What the hell?

For Stu Lantz:

Tell me one Chick Hearn story nobody has ever heard before.

For Tommy Lasorda and Vin Scully:

When did you know McCourt was going to be a failure as the Dodgers’ owner?

For Bud Selig:

How much did you really know about steroids throughout the 90’s?

What did you really think would happen with Frank McCourt? When did you know he wasn’t the guy?

For Mark Cuban:

Will you please buy the Dodgers already?!

For David Stern:

Did you make Jordan retire because of gambling?

Who wins in a fight- Prokerov or Cuban?

For EVERY major college basketball and football coach:

Who was paid to go to your school and how much?

For EVERY Major League Baseball player who played between 1980 and now:

How much performance enhancing drugs did you use and for how long?

There are so many questions that could be asked, I could have sat here for hours and hours writing them. I’ll leave it there for now and ask you the question: WHAT WOULD YOU ASK?

The Benchmark for winning: Jerry Buss’ Lakers

I’m turning thirty this year. Two years before I was born, Dr. Jerry Buss purchased the Lakers. All I’ve known my whole life is the winning tradition of the team. I have early memories of Magic’s sky-hook to beat the Celtics and when Kobe threw the Game 7 alley-oop to Shaq to beat Portland I jumped through the roof of my first college apartment. With the exception of a middling few years in the 90’s, and another set of interesting, if not victorious seasons during the last decade, the Lakers have always been championship contenders.

When the Lakers traded Shaq in 2004, it was the first time I had ever openly-questioned the Lakers’ decision-making. At the time Shaq was flirting with being my favorite Laker. Ever. He still might be.

I prognosticated to anyone who would listen: “If they don’t win another champi0nship within five years, they will decline, Kobe will asked to be traded, and we’ll be back to a time worse than the mid 90’s.”

It took Kobe less than 5 years to demand a trade, but the Lakers ignored his plea, got back to the NBA Finals in 2008 and won title each of the past two seasons. The Lakers did what it took to win with savvy trades and a willingness to go over the salary cap when necessary to ensure a complete roster. Dr. Buss’ team didn’t just quietly develop a culture over 30-plus years that espoused a winning mentality. When it came time to make roster decisions, or make their product better, their actions matched their rhetoric despite a collective team salary that put them consistently over the cap.

Frank McCourt and the Dodgers

I hate to say it, but the McCourts have become a punchline. The “joke” might go something like this:

“How do you take over 50 years of solid ownership-fan relations, and in just a few years make one of the most beloved franchises in modern professional sports a laughing-stock?”

The answer/punchline, of course, is to follow the McCourt road map.

After winning with low-priced, young talent and benefiting from being at or near the top of Major League Baseball’s attendance for nearly a decade, the Dodgers fell-off dramatically last season. When young players didn’t produce, there were no solid stars for them to lean on. The icon they had come to rely on failed like a used car that ran great for a short while and then became a lemon. Of course, “Man-Ram” did come to the team “on-sale,” and proved the “you get what you pay for” adage when he missed much of the past two seasons due to injury and suspension.

Without their star to lean on, the entire house of cards collapsed like, well, a house of cards.

So what do Dodgers fans have to look forward to? If you listen to the general manager, they could be just like the Giants this year (more on why the Giants are enablers as the baseball season goes on).

Our rose colored-glasses would have us ask the following questions: Why couldn’t the Dodgers, with newly acquired Juan Uribe and John Garland, rely on their pitching and scrappy play to win the division this year? Why can’t they stay in contention for the entire season? Maybe they can even make the playoffs again, and wouldn’t that be good enough make everyone in “Dodger-land” really super-duper happy?

My sarcastic tone comes for a few reasons:

1) For a team from Los Angeles to be out-spent by a team from San Francisco is the baseball economic blasphemy. Dodger Stadium is one of the best-attended stadiums in all of baseball, in the second-largest media market in the country, and the Dodgers are constantly operating under a budget tighter than (you fill in the blank). They tried to win “on the cheap” with the genius from the A’s and when even he couldn’t win under McCourt’s budget, he became a scapegoat and was let go.

2) For the Dodgers to try to “imitate” the Giants, as they have been seemingly for the past decade, is embarrassing. I’m sick of it. And I’m sick of Giant retreads. Schmidt, Kent, and now Uribe. Bleh. ENABLERS!

3) Also embarrassing: The Giants won the World Series last year. Maybe I am not, in fact, really over it. The more I think about it, the more annoyed I get. Anyway, moving on…

Finally, in a city that supports the Lakers with the condition of success demanded from them (the sky was falling in Laker-land before the All-Star break), fans seem to support the Dodgers unconditionally.

Whether or not the ownership makes sound decisions, we will go to games and make ourselves believe that the Dodgers have a real shot. In baseball, this may be a reality, as the Giants proved. But it shouldn’t have to be the reality in a strong market like Los Angeles.

In the spirit of being a Dodgers fan with a new season approaching, here are my baseball season predictions. As you’ll see, my rose-colored glasses are shattered as soon as I look at the Phillies’ roster (why can’t the Dodgers just be more like the Phillies!?).

Before my prediction, I’ll leave Dodgers fans with an image of a different owner. Picture this. Mark Cuban in the owner’s box. Oscar De La Hoya doing real outreach to fans in Los Angeles. Magic Johnson’s genuine smile as the new face of the Dodgers. Somebody with a LOT more money and a LOT more stable of a situation than is currently present. Doesn’t that sound nice?

Owen’s 2011 MLB Predictions –

NL West Champ: Dodgers

NL Central Champ – Cubs

NL East – Phillies

NL Wild Card – Braves

AL West – Angels

AL Central – Twins

AL East – Red Sox

AL Wild Card – Yankees

Phillies over Dodgers, Cubs over Braves, Phillies over Cubs

Red Sox over Twins, Angels over Yankees, Red Sox over Angels

Red Sox beat Phillies in 6 games. Halladay is great, but Lee and Hamels get roughed up.

AL Cy Young – John Lester

NL Cy Young – Roy Halladay

AL MVP – Carl Crawford

NL MVP – Matt Kemp (Had to do it and he’ll have to have an MVP year for the Dodgers to win the West…)

Yep. My rose-colored glasses are intact.

owen@fansmanship.com